George Biddell Airy to Faraday   29 December 1851

Playford near Ipswich | 1851 Dec 29

My dear Sir

Thank you for your magnetic remembrance, which has followed me hither¹. I wish I could instantly convey your kind wishes to Mrs. Airy: she is I trust safe either on the sea or in Madeira, for which place she has embarked with our eldest daughter, whose health has given us much uneasiness².

About the Eclipse³. First, pray let me yet believe for some time that I am under no engagement of any kind. I have been sitting, this morning, three hours by the fire without doing or thinking of anything, and begin to understand in what happiness consists. In the next place, the Eclipse will be a very meagre subject: ten minutes would suffice for it: but I will in some more active state turn it over and report to you.

I am, my dear Sir, | Yours very truly | G.B. Airy

Michael Faraday Esq | &c &c &c